Even before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, prices of staple food products were on an upward trajectory driven by pandemic-related strains on the global supply chain and climate change-related crop disruptions. The war between two of the world’s major breadbaskets, which supply 12% of all traded calories, has further inflated prices and threatens to tip the food system into a global crisis.
Wheat prices have risen to all-time highs this year, surpassing prices seen in 2008, when the world was on the cusp of a financial crisis. The lack of wheat exports from Ukraine is driving hunger to famine levels in developing countries, according to more than 75 speakers taking part in a ministerial- level UN Security Council meeting in May.